The Magnificent Maldives

We've had a fabulous time in The Maldives which is the world's most romantic destination. A group of atolls off the southern tip of India, The Maldives are an escape from reality and there's no place on earth quite like it. The clear tropical waters littered with vibrant fish and healthy coral only add to the already breathtaking white sand beaches and laid back island resorts.

We arrived via sea plane (Twin Otter) to White Sands Resort on Wednesday morning and were immediately given the royal treatment and escorted to our private water bungalow. The room was stunning and a perfect retreat from the dorm beds and nightmare bed bug accommodation we were getting used to. Our back deck and staircase lead straight out into the crystal blue Indian Ocean that we would quickly learn was heaven for snorkeling.

We opted for full-board privileges when we initially booked so all our meals were inclusive and Jason was awfully happy with the all-you-can-eat buffets. The food, service and atmosphere was great at the resort. However, the prices for things over and above our full-board privileges were too much for us. We decided on sun and relaxation instead of overpriced action adventure.

We spent the first couple of days pretty much doing nothing but eating, sleeping, swimming and reading, but eventually we had to explore this beautiful place. East of the resort there was a long sand bar that curved and snaked its way to the neighboring island. We headed out during low tide to follow the broken sand bar. As we made our way further from the resort the tide began to rise. That coupled with us knowing we weren't allowed to stumble onto other islands gave the cue to turn back. We had lots of fun goofing around out in the middle of the sand bar far away from everyone else.


The only free excursion included in our package was a short snorkeling trip 500 meters from the resort dock. Our guide said that the conditions weren't great and that usually there were more fish. We couldn't believe it, we saw so many brilliant fish and other aquatic life that we couldn't even begin to imagine MORE fish. After that, we caught the snorkeling bug and spent a couple afternoons off our back deck exploring our coral-filled backyard.

If we weren't reading or swimming you would usually find us up near the bar hogging the foosball table. We're pretty evenly matched so the competition was on all week. We played after almost every meal to help digest our over stuffed bellies.

Our second last night we decided it was time to splurge and we treated ourselves to a couple beers and a bottle of wine with dinner. It's been a while since we've had more then one beer each and we had fun laughing into the late evening. We knew our escape in the Maldives was drawing to an end and we both secretly wished we were flying straight home instead of moving on to India. We're still very excited to see India, we've just been forewarned by other travelers of many dangers and annoyances there.

Our last night in The Maldives was spent on the main island of Male. The little town is a bustling city of hotels and motels. The streets are small and curve every which way making it almost impossible to drive anywhere. We leave our less romantic Male hotel in an hour and head to the neighboring airport island to depart. A quick stopover in Sri Lanka and we should arrive in Trivandrum, India in the early evening. We'll be back to normal budget travelling in no time but we'll never forget The Maldives.
Maldives Pics